A Customer Too Far

[fruitflogger]

I have officially quit from the farmstand.......I cannot deal one more day with the customers...this week, one was the catalyst for all this.

In a 3 hour period, she made SEVEN calls to our house (we don't have a phone at the farmstand, since we're there to work). I happened to be at the house for the 7th call:

She wanted to speak to the manager about some Honeycrisp apples she purchased (two half bushels) over two weeks ago. She refused to speak to me, so I told her the owner (Mr. Fabulous) was working at the farmstand that day, & that we were open until 5p.m. She responded with "Fine, I'll run down there". That was around 2:30 Friday afternoon.

She showed up at 4:50p.m. on Saturday, raising **bleep** because......there was 2 stinkbugs in her apples. She took a picture of one of the bugs on an apple....& brought ONE apple back with a hole less than 1/8" across (Mr. Fabulous measured it), wanting her $40 back. Made a big stink in front of the other customers about how she lived 2 hours away, how could we be such poor business people, etc. At that point, I went back into the cooler, because I was so mad at her acting like this in front of the other customers (in fact, she cut in front of one customer that was ready to checkout), I was ready to take it out to the parking lot.

(Mind you, when she called Friday afternoon she never mentioned that....just said "Fine, I'll run down there". Wouldn't that make you think she live in this area?) And the fact is...stinkbugs don't make that big a hole, it's more like the hole made from a straight pin. Mr. Fabulous said it looked more like the hole made when the stem on an apple pokes into another.

Then....it got even better.

Oh....she didn't bring the two half bushels of Honeycrisp back....just ONE apple....& wanted to be refunded $40. Then, while she was carping about how they weren't holding up....we found out that she did NOT put them in a cool place, or in the fridge....she left them in her garage. Which probably explains the stinkbugs, they are over most of lower Michigan.  And since the weather has been in the low 70s....& Honeycrisp are not the best "long storage" apple unless you keep them at 34-35 degrees...of course some of them are having problems. That's why the sign with them says "keeps best when refrigerated".

What really **bleep** me off......HE went ahead & gave her back her money.....& she still gets the apples. Then, he doesn't even get her licence plate number, a name, anything. I'm willing to bet money she didn't even buy the apples from us, I would think we would remember someone spending $40 for Honeycrisp.

I guessing we will also have a bad review on something like Yelp.

And yet.....he can't figure out why I don't really want to do this anymore.  I lost my temper up to the house & pointed out that "for someone who fought in a war, watched people die & had to pick up the remains, you sure acted like a **bleep** down at the stand".

I'm still ticked off at him over this.

[mountainallie]

There must've been times when you really enjoyed it fruitlogger? Making a living off the land. Living the dream. One of those things people dream of, thinking the grass must be greener on that other side.

[ep02-1]

We planted some plum, apple and cherry (2 each) some years ago. No luck on the fruit but they were not properly cared for and the deer did the rest of the caring.

I had no idea pears took that long. At least (most) vegetables die out every year and give a respite. I did start seeds a couple years but we just buy seedlings now although I am experimenting with a few cuttings from this year's plants. I was one happy eater with garden tomatoes this year (even if I had to cheat--pick them then leave them in the sun for a while to get vine ripe, sun warmed.

[fruitflogger]

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@mountainallie wrote:

There must've been times when you really enjoyed it fruitlogger? Making a living off the land. Living the dream. One of those things people dream of, thinking the grass must be greener on that other side.

---

I don't think I ever enjoyed it as much as Mr. Fabulous did.......but it was a lot more enjoyable when we started than it is now. We were a lot younger, the operation was smaller......& it was a lot less cash outlay.

Over the last 30-some years, we have watched so many people think they are going to come to the country, start raising organic fruit/vegetables, heirloom livestock, do arts & crafts & make all sorts of money. And we have watched almost all of them fail,sell the farm (or lose it back to the lender) & move back to town/out of state with their tail between their legs. We watched a lot of relationships fail, too.

A lot of that was where one person was working a job full time.....so the other could have the farm.

The only reason I went to work at Target was because Mr. Fabulous was trying to work at a place that heat treated metal parts, & trying to farm. It got to where he was getting up at 2a.m to go to work......& they would send him home after 3-4 hours. I knew he hated the job when he told me about one of the workers giving him flack for letting a U of M sweatshirt be next to the furnace he was shoveling parts into (he's a Michigan State grad)....& that he picked up the sweatshirt & threw it into the furnace, just to shut the guy up.

Along with getter bigger came more regulations. You couldn't do cider the way it had always been done....now you had to have a seperate room with pasterazation equipment (When we priced a 15' x 15' room out to the then standards in 1992, it was around $35,000. It's about triple that now......& now, you have to have a licence to basicly make apple juice, be inspected, etc.) All this for something that you would use maybe 30 days of the year. We didn't go with making our own cider......& we watched 5 cider pressers go out of business due to the regulations/costs. There is now only 1 cider press operation within 50 miles of us.

If you buy produce from someone who farms "organicly" (uses compost instead of chemical fertilizer) & your customers end up with something like e-coli/listeria, etc.........you are held liable as well as the grower. And it's safe to assume you're out of business due to the bad press.

Add something else to worry about to the pile.

When we first started out, we had a greenhouse & used to raise flats of vegetables / flowers to sell. We almost went bankrupt......we now use it for just our own transplants for the farm. About $400/month to heat a 20' x 60' inflatable greenhouse (more if it's really cold)...right in the months when there's no money coming in.  Did you know that in Michigan, you have to have one licence to sell annuals, another for perenials, another for trees/shrubs & a fourth for selling rose bushes?  $100 per licence....even if you don't raise them but get them from someone else. Oh, you also need a "nursery dealer licence" to sell them at your store....also $100. For us, that's a $200 cash layout, just so we can have potted mums for sale in the fall.

There is just so much to keep track of, take care of, & deal with......it makes my head hurt.

[18704d]

"Took him around 7 years to get a "regular space". Currently, there are over 70 farmers/vendors waiting for a spot....if you're an older farmer, it's like watching the sharks circle a life raft."

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Perhaps you're in the wrong business?

Buy / lease / rent some space in the right location.

Start your own farmer's market.

..for real,

Lynn

[fruitflogger]

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@18704d wrote:

"Took him around 7 years to get a "regular space". Currently, there are over 70 farmers/vendors waiting for a spot....if you're an older farmer, it's like watching the sharks circle a life raft."

----------

Perhaps you're in the wrong business?

Buy / lease / rent some space in the right location.

Start your own farmer's market.

..for real,

Lynn

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I wished it worked that easy.....but if running an individual farmers market is bad......starting one is even worse. It's not just rent some space in a parking lot.....you have to deal with city /township regulations, insurance requirements (we have a $1 million liability  rider on our farm insurance for the one at home.....& we are required to have the same for the city farmers market we go to). Requirments for "bathroom facilities". Etc., etc., etc. Our contract we sign every year with the municipal farmers market has FIVE pages of rules/regulations you have to follow. Plus over $1800 a season for 3 spaces the size of a car parking space (& remember, no one else can get 3 spaces anymore...we're "grandfathered in").

Nowadays, every town around here is doing their own "farmers market".....because they saw how much traffic the city market we go to draws (it's considered one of the top 10 markets in Michigan).

We've seen three attemps to start another farmers market in the area......& all have failed.

And quite frankly......it's a "young person's game"...that I'm too old & gimped out to play.

Remember that wonderful customer that started this whole post? The one who not only got to keep the $40 worth of Homeycrisp apples, but then got a refund as well?

Our phone is ringing off the hook everyday with someone who will NOT leave a message on our answering machine......& I refuse to answer it. Leave me a message, & I'll call you back.

I'm to the point that I just flinch when the phone rings.

We have 6 days left at home.....& I've told my husband that it's up to him to finish.

[fredi*frogi]

fruit, I don't answer my personal phone unless I know the number, either 🙂 (at work I have to answer....even if I do know the number!). So i know all about screening your calls 🙂 HAHA I figure people will leave me a message if they need me that badly...otherwise send me a text message! HAHA